[Dixielandjazz] Small Band Swing or Dixieland?

[Marek Boym]

As Steve says, not all black musicians turned to bop.  Franz Jackson
had a traditional - or Dixieland - band, as did Kid Ory, Joe
Darensbourg (when not playing as sideman with others), Singleton
Palmer, and more.  Yhere were quite a few black traditional musicians
active on the West Coast, but the "new" white ones - the revivalists -
stole the show.
Somehow, I have the feeling that predominance of whites in this field
was somehow connected with discrimination - it was easier for whites
to find gigs.  Although the days of blatant segregation were over, at
least in the north, many places would much rather employ whites.
And we should not forget that numerous black musicians worked in
"mixed" bands - Vic Dickenson, Edmond Hall, and more.
Cheers

On 14 February 2011 16:19, Stephen G Barbone
<barbonestreet at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>> Joe Carbery <joe.carbery at gmail.com>
>>
>> Why bring ethnicity into it? Does a note care what colour of person blows
>> or
>> sings it?
>>
>> Regards,
>
> Dear Joe:
>
> Because there should be volumes written about the kind of music I posted.
> And the bands who played it. It was a part of the social as well as the
> musical scene in New York City.
>
> Unfortunately not many folks know about it, except the few of us who were
> there at the time to see history. Those on the left coast might ask Conrad
> Janis about the number and competence of black musician s who switched to
> Dixieland when the big bands folded. And about those blacks who played in
> his band.
>
> We often hear that there were no black Dixieland bands during the 1950s and
> 1960s. That they switched to bop.  both Conrad and I will tell you that
> there were quite a few black dixieland bands and musicians in New York City
> where we were playing at the time. Like the one fronted by James P Johnson.
>
> You are right, notes do not care what color the musician is, but history
> should accurate reflect the social aspects at the time the music was played.
> And we should ask ourselves why black bands were mostly categorized as small
> band swing while white bands were categorized as Dixieland when they both
> played essentially in the same style with similar instrumentation. Why, for
> example does "Dixieland" seem to mean "White Bands".
>
> That's why ethnicity was brought up. One cannot accurately describe
> Dixieland jazz without giving credit where credit is due, and in this case,
> credit is due BLACK MUSICIANS.
>
> For further discussion of Small Band Swing v Dixieland, I suggest those who
> have it, read the chapter on "Dixieland" in Richard Sudhalter's book, Lost
> Chords.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
> www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband
>
>
>
>
>
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